Ballast regulator

ABSTRACT

BALLAST LEVELLING AND REGULATING DEVICE FOR LEVELLING BALLAST DUMPED ON RAIL TRACKS, THE DEVICE BEING PROVIDED WITH PLOW BLADES AND SKID PLATES WHICH CAN BE RAISED TO LOWERED, THE SKID PLATES EXTENDING IN A FORE AND AFT DIRECTION AND BEING EFFECTIVE IN PREVENTING THE DEVICE FROM   TEARING OR DISLODGING THE TIES SUPPORTING THE RAILS AS THE DEVICE MOVES ALONG THE RAILS TO LEVEL THE BALLAST.

- 7. 1971 w.J. YARD BALLAST REGULATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 27,1969 woo-om W jfl f7 (Ol/AUM#- Dec. 7, 1971 w.J. YARD 3,624,936

BALLAST REGULATOR Filed Aug. 27, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 7, 1971 w.J. YARD 3,624,936

BALLAST REGULATOR Filed Aug. 27, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United StatesPatent O BALLAST REGULATOR William `lames Yard, Cavan, South Australia,Australia,

assignor to Aresco Trak-Chief Proprietary Limited,

Cavan, South Australia, Australia Filed Aug. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 853,317Int. Cl. E01b 27/04 U.S. Cl. 37-104 3 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSUREBallast levelling and regulating device for levelling ballast dumped onrail tracks, the device being provided with plow blades and skid plateswhich can be raised or lowered, the skid plates extending in a fore andaft direction and being effective in preventing the device from tearingor dislodging the ties supporting the rails as the device moves alongthe rails to level the ballast,

This invention relates to a levelling device which is useful for theregulating and profiling of the ballast of a permanent way.

Currently levelling devices are in common use and the levelling devicesused consist of a pair of sloping wings arranged in a V-forrnation whenviewed in plan, these wings normally being termed plow blades. Howeverit is necessary with the existing plow blades to have large notches tobridge the rails and clear the fish plates and bolts, and to allow theplow blades to negotiate curves. Consequently after ballast has beenlevelled with the usual existing type of machine, some ballast remainson each side of the rail and this can be heaped up almost to the railhead level in some instances. This is undesirable, and removal of thisresidual ballast is frequently effected by hand.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improvementwhereby the ballast can be spread closer to rails than heretofore andthe invention may in one of its forms include as a feature a machinehaving a pair of swivel arms pivoted to its chassis, and side wings onthe swivel arms, the swivel arms having scraper blades thereon and alsobeing provided with means to retain them adjacent a rail. If the swivelarms are pivoted relative to one another, clearly they can be arrangedto move very close to the rail and thereby remove the residual ballast.

On existing ballast regulators it has been considered necessary toincorporate rotary brooms, for the purpose of removing ballast left onthe track bed due to the need to provide clearance between the loweredge of the plow blade and the sleepers. Without this clearance there isa danger of a plow blade cutting into a tie, tipping it (thereby morefirmly engaging it), and driving it towards adjacent ties therebydamaging the track. Since the ballast above the ties serves no usefulpurpose, it has been the practice to sweep them to the side of thetrack, utilising a large rotary broom having combination wire and rubberbristles. These brooms are expensive to install, and maintenance costsare high, and a further object of the invention is to provideimprovements whereby the work performed by these brooms is much reduced,and in some instances even eliminated.

This invention may include as one of its features skid plates fixedrelative to the plow blades, the skid plates having upwardly slopingfront and rear ends providing a lead-in effect so that they ride overany ties which are abnormally high. The lower edges of the plow bladesthen move much closer to the upper surfaces of the ties, in turn moreeffectively removing the ballast, and in some instances the rotary broomcan be dispensed with.

An embodiment of the invention is described herewith in some detail withreference to and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l is a diagrammatical sectional elevation showing operation of thedevice,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1, also diagrammatical and showingoperation of the device,

FIG. 3 is a section of the track before ballast is intially cleared byplow blades,

FIG. 4 is a section of the track showing how, although the plow bladesinitially clear most of the ballast, they nevertheless leave residualballast alongside the rails for final clearing by the sloping wings ofpivoted arms.

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of the device showing some constructionaldetails,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of portion of the frame showingthe plow blades and skid plate attached,

FIG. 7 is a similarly enlarged perspective View showing interconnectionbetween power lifting means and the frame,

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view showing a pair of swivel arms pivoted tothe chassis of the device, and

FIG. 9 is an underside perspective view of the swivel arms of FIG. S,with the blades angled from their normal positions to more clearlyillustrate the structure of the swivel arm and blade assembly.

A ballast levelling and regulating device 10 is provided with a chassis11 having on it four rail engaging support wheels 12 arranged to supportthe chassis for travelling along a railroad track 13, the device alsohaving a pair of frames 14 which are provided with rollers 15 engagingchannel guides 16 to thereby form co-operating guide means guiding theframes 14 for movement downwardly towards or upwardly away from thetrack 13.

Power levelling means are constituted by hydraulic cylinders 20 whichoperably couple the frame 14 of the chassis 11 for effecting themovement upwardly and downwardly.

The frame 14 has secured to it plow blades 21 which are angled to thedirection of travel so that under normal operation they deflect theballast from the track outwardly, and in order to avoid possibility ofthe plow blades 21 digging into any higher ties, each plow blade isprovided with a skid plate 22, the skid plates 22 extending in a foreand aft direction and terminating at their front and rear ends inportions which slope upwardly.

In order to allow the skid plates 22 to lift the plow blades, thehydraulic cylinders 20 are coupled to respective frames 14 throughC-shaped members 23 (FIG. 7) pivoted to the frame 14, but pivotalmovement is limited by engagement of the arms of the C-shaped members 23against the front and rear side walls of the frame member to which theyare pivoted.

Frame 14 is shaped similarly on its front and rear face (FIG. 6) so thatthe plow blades 21 can be carried on either or both front and rear facesif desired thereby enabling the machine to deflect ballast inwardlytowards the centre of the track upon reversal of direction of travel.

The hydraulic pressure and drive required for the machine is obtainedfrom an engine 24 which drives a pump 25 and it also couples to thewheels 12 through gear box 26, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1.

The rear end of the chassis is provided with lugs 30 arranged in twopairs one over each rail 31 of the railroad track 13, and a swivel arm32 is pivoted to each respective lug 30 as shown in FIG. 8. Each swivelarm 32 carries on it a sloping Wing 33 arranged to diverge outwardly andrearwardly in respect of each rail 31 as -shown in FIG. 8. Each slopingwing 33 is provided with an upper deflector plate 35 arranged to retainballast against sloping wings 33 and thereby avoid the tendency forballast to be heaped over rail 31.

The wings 33 are provided, as shown in FIG. 9, with clearance notches 37near their inner ends to clear dog spikes disposed along the track, butthese are small compared with a clearance between adjacent plow blades21. The two deector plates 35 of each pair of swivel arms 32 are urgedtowards one another by means of a tension spring 36, one end of whichengages a plate 38 containing a ikey hole slot 39, the plate 38 havingan extending handle 40 so that the spring can be quickly released.

The lugs 30 extend rearwardly from a hinged rear cross member 43,connected by means of hinges 44 to the chassis 11. The four wings arelowered by lowering of the cross member 43 (effected by hydrauliccylinder 46, FIG. l), the two wings are positioned one on each side ofeach rail, each spring 36 retaining them against the sides of the rail.As the device moves upwardly, the spring retains the wings adjacent toor in contact with the sides of the rail while the deflector plateensures that ballast is deflected by the wings. The wings also areprovided with cam plates 48 (FIG. 9) to enable them to pass ish platesor other obstructions along the rails. Thus the sloping wings spread theresidual ballast (illustrated in FIG. 4) to each side of each rail.

What I claim is:

1. A ballast leveling and regulating device having a chassis, railengaging wheels supporting the chassis for traveling along a railroadtrack, a pair of frames positioned one over each rail of said track, arespective horizontal frame member having front and rear faces on eachsaid frame, a respective plow blade secured to and depending from eachsaid frame, upstanding guides on the chassis engaged by respective guideengaging means on the frames guiding the frames for movement downwardlytowards or upwardly away from said track, a pair of hydraulic liftingcylinders, pivot means coupling the upper end of each cylinder to thechassis, a pair of C-shaped members, pivot means attaching the lower endof each said cylinder to a respective said C- shaped member about afirst axis, and further pivot means attaching each said C-shaped memberto a respective said horizontal frame member about a second axis spacedfrom but parallel to the 'first said axis, so arranged that the arms ofeach C-shaped member are positioned respectively fore and aft of saidfront and rear faces of the respective horizontal frame member, each armbeing engageable against a respective said face upon rocking of theC-shaped member thereby permitting corresponding limited upward movementof the frames relative to the chassis without operation of therespective cylinders.

2. A ballast leveling and regulating device according to claim 1 furthercomprising two pairs of swivel arms pivoted to the chassis, the pivotarms of each pair being positioned one on each side of a respectiverail, a scraper blade on each swivel arm, and means urging the arms ofeach said pair towards respective sides of a respective rail comprisinga spring, a plate on one end of the spring, a key hole shaped slot inthe plate engageable over a pin on one of the swivel arms, and meansconnecting the other end of the spring to the other swivel arm.

3. A ballast leveling and regulating device according to claim 1 furthercomprising skid plates extending in a fore and aft direction, the skidplates being positioned beneath respective said plow blades, the frontand rear ends of the skid plates sloping upwardly.

`4. A ballast levelling and regulating device according to claim 1wherein the plow blades are angled to define a V-formation when viewedin plan, each plow blade having a notch in its lower edge positionedabove a respective rail of the track, and a skid plate on each side ofeach notch.

l5. A ballast levelling and regulating device according to claim 4further comprising two pairs of swivel arms pivoted to the chassis, theswivel arms of each pair being positioned one on each side of arespective rail, a scraper blade on each swivel arm, and spring meansbetween the arms of each pair drawing the arms towards each other.

6. In a ballast leveling and regulating device having a chassis, railengaging wheels supporting the chassis for movement along a railroadtrack, and a pair of plow blade assemblies carried by the rail engagingwheels for distributing ballast, the improvement comprising:

a pair of scraper assemblies connected to the chassis and extendingrearwardly of the rail engaging wheels, one scraper assembly beingpositioned over each rail of the track, each scraper assembly having apair of arms pivotally connected to the chassis and extending generallyparallel to and on opposite sides of the respective rail, a scraperblade depending from each arm at the end thereof remote from lthechassis, the scraper blades extending in close proximity to the sideportions of the respective rail and the ties of the track and meansconnecting the two arms of each scraper assembly to bias the arms andscraper blades toward the sides of the rails.

7. The improvement according to claim 6 wherein the arms are connectedto the chassis by means of a cross member, the cross member beingpivotally connected to the chassis for movement about a horizontal axistransverse to the rails, and means for pivoting the cross member aboutthe axis to raise and lower the scraper assemblies toward and away fromthe rails.

8. The improvement according to claim 6 wherein the two scraper bladesof each scraper assembly are in diverging relation to one another, eachblade having at least one notch in its lower surface to provideclearance for the spikes of the track.

9. The improvement according to claim 8 wherein each blade has a camplate projecting therefrom for lguiding the blade clear of ylishplatesand other obstructions along the rail.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 757,650 4/1904 Chausse 37-371,929,617 10/ 1933 Walbridge 37-104 X 2,618,212 11/1952 Hedquist et al.172--668 X 2,665,506 l/1954 Kershaw 37---104 2,840,930 7/1958 Mundell etal. 37-104 3,047,968 8/1962 Keller et al. 37-104 3,080,665 3/1963 Kelleret al 37-104 3,468,042 9/1969 Coy 37-104 3,488,789 l/l970 Gross et al.1041-279 X 3,491,467 1/1970 Finger 37-104 FOREIGN PATENTS 475,797 11/1952 Italy.

CLYDE I. COUGHENOUR, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 15--54; 37-36;104-279; 172-668

